


Treasure

by princessandthecurls



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Nanny, M/M, Male Slash, Slash, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-29
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 00:40:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/946631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessandthecurls/pseuds/princessandthecurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Louis always does what’s best for his son, Harry is most definitely not Sebastian Tomlinson’s bitch and absolutely no one falls in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As soon as Louis Tomlinson’s feet touch the floor in the morning he is caught up in the never-ending whirlwind that is his life, barely finding time to blink as he is rushed through his daily routine of mundane chores. Every day he faces a battle against his work tie, trying and failing to make it feel less like a hangman’s noose every time, as he weaves his way through obstacle course of toys that litter the floor of his apartment.

Truthfully, this was never where Louis imagined himself to be at this age; juggling a toaster, coffee machine and a small bowl of cereal, whilst narrowly avoiding a stray toy car that had found its way into the kitchen and under his feet. Of course, upon reflection, all his wildest teenage fantasies about what adulthood would be like were all just that- wild fantasies. It was never very likely that he was going to amount to be an overnight music sensation or the next star signing to Manchester United, but he’d always envisioned himself living a more exciting life than just an average office job. Not that Louis wasn’t content with the way things were because it was certainly plenty enough for him, he just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing, that it could be so much more.

There were countless nights where Louis lay awake wondering if he should just start over, go back to school, get some proper qualifications and actually do something that he was happy doing. He was sure that if the circumstances were different then he would in a heartbeat- but there was Sebastian. Ever since his son opened his eyes and took his first glance at the world, he had been Louis’ one and only priority. He put his well-being and his happiness in front of everything else; work, family, his own health and sanity. Sebastian, still only 3 years old, was the only thing Louis looked forward to when he woke up every morning, the giggling child capable of brightening his day just with that small smile that was so like his own.

Even though he would be lost without him, herein lay his problem. Having had Sebastian at the young age of 19 meant that Louis never obtained a degree or any other form of higher education, without these qualifications he was limited to the lower paying- and generally more shit- jobs, the only way he could hope to move forward to a better career, one that he actually enjoyed, was to quit his job and go back to college or university, but he needed his job so he could provide for his son. He was caught in a vicious cycle and Louis could see no hope of breaking it.

But, ever the optimist, he made the most of what he had and threw everything he could into making Sebastian’s life the best it could be, hoping that he would end up with a more promising future than his father.

With his son in mind, as usual, he tip-toed into the dark room where he was sleeping like the little angel he was. Louis paused for a moment before waking him up, taking the opportunity to admire the tiny sleeping figure; it bothered him sometimes that he managed to get all his looks and physical attributes from his mother, the only resemblance he seemed to share with his son were they’re matching sparkling blue eyes and mischievous grins. But, considering he was so darn cute, he forgave him for it.

He knelt down next to the small bed and gingerly shook Sebastian’s shoulder, rousing him from whatever sweet, childish dream he was having. Bringing a chubby hand up to rub his left eye, he whined quietly and tried to wriggle away from his father’s touch. Louis laughed at this; where they lacked resemblance in the physical sense was certainly made up for in personality.

“Come on bud” Louis whispered “the sun’s up, we’ve gotta get you ready for school.”

When Louis said school he really meant the Day Care centre he sent Sebastian to during the day whilst he was at work. He only resolved to call it ‘school’ when he discovered it made his son feel a lot older and a lot more important and therefore more willing to attend. But it still didn’t stop him complaining.

“Don’t wanna go” he mumbled, burying his head in the blanket he took to bed with him.

“But school’s fun, you get to play games and make things and meet nice friends” Louis reasoned, deciding it was easier just to scoop the small child out of bed than to wait for him to get out himself. He received only a small noise of protest before Sebastian was nuzzling into his shirt.

With practiced ease, Louis had him dressed and sat up at the table within mere minutes although he was still yawning pitifully. The bowl of Cheerios Louis had put down in front of him seemed to revive him; however, as his eyes began to return to their usual shade of curious as they followed Louis around the kitchen.

“What you thinking about there, kid?” Louis asked with a smile, taking a grateful gulp from his now slightly lukewarm cup of coffee.

“Why do daddies work so much?” Sebastian finally spoke, eyebrows furrowed as if he thought it was the world’s greatest mystery- perhaps at this age it was.

“Well” Louis sighed as he came to sit opposite the frowning child “when daddies work, we get paid money and with that money we can buy things like food and nice toys and even houses. If we didn’t go to work we wouldn’t have any of that and that wouldn’t be a very nice way to live, would it?”

The small boy chewed his mouthful thoughtfully, dribbling some milk onto his fresh-on-5-minutes-ago shirt.

“We could just go play in the park everyday if we didn’t have somewhere to live, that wouldn’t be too bad” he declared finally.

Louis laughed.

“I wish it was that simple, Sebby.”

Realising the time, Louis hurried his son down from the table and in to the bathroom, leaving his now empty bowl in the sink for him to deal with later.

One teeth brushing and two mini Converses later, they were out of the apartment and strapped into Louis’ car.

“Do I have to go?” Sebastian pouted from his car seat, still not thrilled with this whole ‘school’ thing.

“Do we have to have this every day?” Louis frowned as he drove the familiar route to the Day Care centre.

“I don’t like it there” the child huffed, idly kicking the empty seat in front of him.

“I know you don’t, love, but there’s no one at home to take care of you so you have to go” Louis explained for the millionth time feeling just as bad about it as he did the first time. “And what have I told you about not scuffing the seats.”

“But Daddy, can’t you stay home with me?”

Louis was distracted at a red light by two pleading blue eyes in his rear view mirror, heart breaking because he really would spend every minute of every day with him if he could.

Ever since Sebastian’s mother up and left when he was 2 months old it had just been the two of them and even though Louis’ pretty sure he wouldn’t have it any other way, he still wishes he could spend more time with him. Being a single dad, and therefore the sole provider for his child, did take up an awful lot of time. And as if he didn’t feel bad enough as it is for neglecting Sebastian, the fact that he hated his Day Care so much only added fuel the flame, but it wasn’t like Louis had any other option; his wages would in no way stretch to cover the cost of a nanny and besides, it was good for Sebby to interact with other children.

This is what he had to remind himself of as he pulled up outside the centre, gaudily painted windows glaring so that everybody passing knew- despite the large ‘Day Care’ sign- exactly what their business was. Sebastian’s bottom lip was already starting to wobble as Louis walked around the car to unstrap him from his seat.

“Hey, hey none of that today” Louis warned, fighting the urge to tear up himself. “If you’re a big, brave boy the time will fly by, I’ll be back before you know it.”

He smoothed the small boy’s hair that wasn’t quite the same shade of brown as his, but was equally as messy.

“Can you be brave for me Sebby?” He asked, bending down so he could look him in the eyes.

Sebastian merely nodded glumly; thumb inching its way to find his mouth.

“And none of that either” Louis laughed, playfully swatting the hand away.

“Come on then, otherwise Daddy’s gonna be late for work” he concluded, standing up and bringing Sebastian up with him so he could carry him up the drive way. “Don’t look so glum, chum” Louis said in a deep voice, scrabbling his hands up his son’s sides, tickling him until he was forced to gurgle out a laugh.

“Not fair” Sebastian complained, trying and failing to put a frown back on his face.

“At least it got you smiling” Louis beamed as they reached the door where a woman with too much make up and unnaturally wide smile was waiting. Sebastian’s own smile dropped.

“Okay you be your usual good self today” he said, setting him back down and crouching there with him so he could pull him in for a hug.

“I love you Sebby, I’ll be back soon” he mumbled, planting a kiss into his untidy hair.

“Love you too Daddy.”

—-

“I just really hate leaving him there” Louis whined as he stood in the break room of his office making himself a cup of coffee. “You know, he doesn’t have a good time and it all seems too kids’ TV.”

Zayn, his best friend and colleague, didn’t even bother to respond; he just rolled his eyes from where he was sat looking very, very bored. This was a topic that Louis brought up often.

“I’m sorry, what did you do this weekend?” Louis said, turning the conversation around to Zayn’s favourite subject- Zayn.

A smirk formed on his face as he sat up, preparing to tell his story that no doubt contained alcohol and a number of girls.

“Remember I said what not who” He added, smirking himself.

“But then there’s no story to tell” Zayn teased before launching into his weekend which was pretty much exactly what Louis expected it to be; loud parties, messy shots and a lot of weed.

That was one thing he’d missed since Sebby had come along; being young. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d gone out, got drunk and just had fun. Well he could- the night Sebby had actually been conceived. He now tended to live vicariously through Zayn which in all honesty wasn’t the best solution but what other choice did he have.

It was only when Zayn was half way through filling Louis in on his most recent sexual adventure, and Louis’ face was contorted in mild disgust, that they were interrupted. One of the more senior employees strolled into the break room and Zayn was tactful enough to cut his what sounded very exotic story short- Louis was grateful for this. The newcomer was very tall and had a mass of black hair tangled on top of his head, sharply contrasting his well-pressed suit and causing Zayn to wince and run a hand through his own sleekly quiffed hair.

“Tomlinson?” The man stated simply, arching an incredibly busy eyebrow as he stared at Louis.

He gulped.

He immediately began wracking his brain, trying to work out what this terrifying man wanted from him and praying that he hadn’t fucked up some accounts report.

“Yes?” He confirmed, voice shaking a little.

“Mr Phillips wants to see you in his office” he barked still fixing him with his death stare “now.”

As he stalked out again Zayn let out a breath they’d both been holding and clapped him on the back.

“Shit mate,” he laughed “have to say; I’m gonna miss seeing you around the office.”

“Gee thanks for the moral support” Louis said rolling his eyes “we don’t know that’s why he wants to see me.”

Neither of them believed that of course, this was clear by the way Zayn raised his eyebrows at him and fixed him with an exasperated look, for they both knew that the only reason they would get called to a senior executive was for bad news.

Although he tried to remain optimistic, the look Mr Phillips gave him as he walked into his office only confirmed his suspicions and made his stomach drop.

Mr Phillips was a beefy man and looked almost as out-of-place in his suit as his messenger had, the seams of the stiff black material straining over his broad figure in a way that did not look at all comfortable. At least his lack of hair made him look a lot neater than his Neanderthal colleague but Louis did have to push away all thoughts of how he looked exactly like one of the illustrations in Sebastian’s ‘Humpty Dumpty’ book because now was hardly the time for that.

“Sit, please” he instructed in a voice that was so deep it practically shook the ground Louis was stood on, gesturing towards the empty chair that faced his desk.

Louis obeyed.

“As you may or may not be aware there have been a number of occasions lately where members of our company have been let go, some due to the fact that they were nearing retirement anyway, others simply due to downright incompetence.”

He swallowed hard, palms going sweaty.

“And so” the man continued in his booming voice “we have a number of positions higher up in the company that need filling.”

That threw him, why would he be bringing that up just to fire him? To tease him with what could’ve been?

“Some of the other more senior staff members and I have decided that to fill these positions we are going to promote from within the company family…”

Louis resisted the urge to scoff at the use of the word ‘family’ as his future seemed brighter by the second.

“… And it has been pointed out to me that you have shown remarkable potential since starting here.”

His heart was racing so fast by this point that he was sure it was going to break through his rib cage and slap the man in the face.

“So we are promoting you to Supervisor of the accounting’s department.”

Louis’ jaw hit the floor as he sat blinking dumbly at the man sat in front of him, hardly daring to believe that he’d heard right.

“Only of course if you want this position?” Mr Phillips added in the absence of a response from him.

“Yes, definitely, of course!” Louis stumbled over his words.

“Now this promotion will of course come with a pay rise- a quite substantial one at that- and a few other perks that the higher employees get to enjoy but it will mean a lot more hard work on your part and typically longer working hours.”

Louis faltered at this.

“Oh, the thing is sir; this is an amazing opportunity and I would absolutely take you up on it but it’s my son- his day care only just about covers the hours I’m doing at the moment and I don’t have anyone else who can look after him.”

“Well that’s not a problem at all! I’m sure you can arrange alternative care for him, what about hiring a nanny?” he suggested, seeming a lot friendlier than he did when Louis first walked in the office.

“After bills and food and stuff I couldn’t afford that” Louis shrugged.

“With this pay rise you will and have plenty left over to spoil your son” the man actually smiled “we want you to take this job, you’re a very promising lad.”

He did like the idea of finally being able to really treat Sebastian and he wouldn’t have to send him to that God-awful day care anymore.

“Yeah” he said quietly “yes okay.”

“Excellent” Mr Phillips cried, clapping his hands together “here, I’ll give you the number for the nanny agency I use for my two boys- they’re wonderful!”

He pushed a pastel coloured card across the desk towards him and Louis took is gratefully.

“Thank you so much sir, for this and for everything” Louis beamed, still shaking but for entirely different reasons.

“It’s no problem Louis, can I call you Louis?”

“After this you can call me whatever you want” Louis joked and the man laughed.

“I like you, kid” He said approvingly as he got up to show him the door “and this promotion is going to do big things for you! Trust me Louis; it’ll change your life!”


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was jerked awake by the sound of loud music filling the small apartment, the strumming that was coming from the next room over vibrating through the sofa that he had been sleeping on.

He swore under his breath, cursing his loud roommate.

“Niall” he called out, voice still scratchy from sleep. He cleared his throat and tried again;

“Niall!”

No reply, if anything the music just got louder.

“Niall for fuck’s sake” He practically screamed as he threw a discarded shoe at the wall. 

Finally the music cut off and the apartment fell into silence, the only thing Harry could hear being the slight ring in his ears.

A door creaked open and the beaming, blonde head of Niall Horan came bouncing across the room towards him.

“What did you think? It was a new song I’ve been working on” He gushed proudly.

“I think you need to stop practising at God awful hours of the day” Harry scowled.

“Dude, it’s twelve thirty” Niall said, rolling his eyes and showing Harry his phone just to prove it.  
“Oh shit, I was meant to get up early and head down to the agency” He groaned, slapping a hand to his face and shooting a cold look at his friend through his fingers. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Well technically I did” Niall grinned “just later than intended.”

Harry sat up and eyed him, his horrible mood softening when he took in his form perched almost anxiously on the end of the sofa, fixing him with his blue, amused and yet still apologetic eyes. It wasn’t Niall’s fault that Harry was a terrible morning person who tended to forget to set an alarm. 

Harry could never stay mad at his roommate for long. Not only was his relentless positivity rather contagious, he also managed to maintain an aura of schoolboy innocence about him, something that was a constant reminder to Harry that he would never do or say anything to intentionally hurt him- let alone anyone else.

He smiled and patted Niall on the shoulder.

“Your song sounded great; will it be ready for tonight?”

“Not quite, still gotta work out some kinks in the second verse but if I get another gig next week I should be able to whip it out then.”

Niall, originally from Ireland, moved to London just over a year ago to chase his dream of becoming a professional singer/songwriter and since then had worked tirelessly to try and make that happen. He had learnt to juggle up to 5 gigs a week in between various bar and restaurant jobs he’d had along the way. Harry wouldn’t say he’d had the greatest success nor had his ‘big break’ yet but he was confident that if anyone in this city was going to make it big, it was going to be Niall. And Harry had vowed to be his number one cheerleader up until and after that happened.

“Brilliant, do you want some breakfast? Or should I say lunch” He offered, hauling himself off the sofa.

“Nah I’m okay for now, I ate before I started practise” Niall responded, trotting after him into the kitchen like a little puppy. “If you want I can give you a lift down to the agency later? If you still want to go…”

Harry turned and gave him an endearing look; Niall obviously felt bad for not waking Harry up that morning, although in all fairness Harry hadn’t asked him to.

“No it’s alright, it wasn’t that important really” Harry shrugged as he popped himself some toast. “I was just going to ask if they had anything for me yet.”

Harry had been living in London for just over three years now, choosing to remain in the busy city after completing his undergraduate course and gaining his Qualified Teacher Status. His apartment hunting happily coincided with Niall getting fired from one of his more recent bar jobs and, when finding another proved difficult, needing to find a roommate to help pay for rent. Much like his new roommate and soon to be best friend, Harry had little success in his endeavours; finding it much harder than he had naively expected to find a steady teaching position. Out of desperation he had signed up with a local nanny agency that provided rich businessmen and women top quality care for their children whilst they were busy earning ridiculous amounts of money. It was hardly a full-time job in a primary school, which was undoubtedly the dream for Harry, but it gave him experience working with children on a long term basis and in all honesty, he really didn’t have many other options. 

The only problem was that the agency had promised him full-time employment but in the two months he had been with them he had gotten a grand total of zero interviews. 

“If I were you I’d go down there and complain” Niall frowned, settling himself on top of the counter “they’ve done fuck all for you, didn’t they give you some sort of guarantee?”

“Yeah but it’s hardly surprising I’ve had nothing; it’s a really top quality agency, I was surprised they took me on in the first place with so little experience. I probably help them meet their quota but no big-shot business man would want to hire me to look after their precious darlings.”

“Then sign up with a different agency, one that deals with regular people.” Niall seemed baffled by his dilemma.

“I can’t Niall” Harry explained, leaning against the counter next to him “there’s still a chance, however small, that someone will hire me and that’ll mean good money. Besides, experience with such a high-end agency will look really good when I start applying for teaching positions.”

“Give yourself a couple of weeks then” Niall shrugged “if you haven’t heard anything by a certain date, call it a day and try to find another agency. Otherwise you’re gonna be stuck in this tiny flat for the rest of your life.”

Harry put on a look of mock horror.

“You won’t let me live in your 4 story mansion when you’re rich and famous? The betrayal!”

“Nah mate, I’ll have bought new and more attractive friends by then” Niall chuckled.

“Please” Harry said smugly, cocking an eyebrow.

“Your modesty is by far my favourite thing about you.” 

“I’m just such a humble guy.”

Niall hopped down off the counter, still cackling.

“I’ve gotta get back to practising” he said, walking out of the kitchen before popping his head back in. “You’re still coming tonight, right?”

“Of course, I’ve been working on my ‘I heart Niall Horan’ banner all week!” Harry grinned “I’ve gone through three pots of glitter already.”

“You’re crazy” Niall laughed, shaking his head as he left again. 

Harry walked around the small kitchen, cleaning up all the breakfast dishes that Niall had neglected as he did so. He tried his best to keep on top of things, keeping the apartment tidy and relatively nice-smelling, but when Niall failed to co-operate with him it was easy for things to slip back into chaos. There wasn’t much to their small flat; the kitchen, a fairly cramped living/dining area, one decent sized bathroom and two bedrooms. It wasn’t the ideal home but it was more than enough for two twenty-something year old lads to find their feet in. In theory the two of them would have no trouble in keeping things clean- there wasn’t a lot to keep clean after all- but with Niall having a sudden influx of gig offers and Harry losing the will to live after his failures with the agency, their home was left uncared for. 

Harry picked his way through the various take-away boxes that littered the living room floor on his journey back to the sofa. Collapsing onto it, he let his mind drift back to Niall’s suggestion of giving himself a deadline for the agency and then moving on. He considered this; he didn’t have an official commitment to the agency and it did make a lot of sense to try somewhere with better job odds. But Harry couldn’t bring himself to walk away from such a fantastic opportunity. As he settled down amongst the sofa cushions he resigned himself to blind hope, something small inside of him telling him that he would get that phone call and get it soon.

\---

The first thing that came to Louis’ mind as he approached his front door was ‘shit, I really don’t have enough hands for this.’ 

It was a big enough struggle trying to get from the car to his building whilst holding a bag of McDonalds, a booklet that he’d picked up from the nanny agency on his way home and an excited three year old, but when he reached the door to his apartment and realised he needed keys to get in, he finally surrendered. 

“Okay kid, Daddy’s gonna have to put you down so he can open the door, are you gonna help by the holding the food?” He asked as he let the toddler wriggle to the floor.  
Sebastian nodded enthusiastically and scrabbled for the large bag, clutching it close to his chest as Louis let them both in. 

Sebastian rushed in ahead of him and as Louis toed off his shoes and loosened his tie he could hear the scraping of chairs from the kitchen. 

“Sebby, go wash your hands before you start eating” he called out, receiving a small whine in response before a little brown head rushed past him to the bathroom.  
Louis chuckled to himself as he set out their dinner on the table. Normally he gave his son relatively healthy food as any good parent would, but seeing as they were celebrating that night he decided to treat him with junk just this once.

Within seconds Sebastian was sat up at the table inspecting the toy from inside his Happy Meal, completely dismissing the food. 

“Hey remember the rule!” Louis scolded as he tucked into his own order “you can play with your toy after you’ve finished eating.”

His son shrugged and shoved a handful of fries into his mouth, clearly accepting the win-win situation.

“I’ve got some very exciting news to tell you Seb” Louis continued, smiling when he saw his eyes shine expectantly.

“Daddy has been given a new job, which means we’ll be getting a lot more money to spend on toys and nice food and things like that” Louis started, his son beamed. “But that’s not the exciting part; this new job means that you don’t have to go to your school anymore, you get to stay home instead.”

Sebastian’s face lit up, his smile stretching from ear to ear as he bounced up and down on his chair.

“You’re going to stay home with me?” He asked, eyes sparkling at the very thought. 

Louis wavered.

“Well- no. I still have to go to work, but we’re going to get you a nanny; someone to come and look after you and play with you all day.”  
His son frowned slightly as he considered this. 

“Like a teacher?” He asked.

“Something like that” Louis nodded. “Do you remember when Grandma came and looked after you that time when Daddy was sick?” 

Sebastian bobbed his head up and down in understanding.

“And she played games with you and made you lunch and read you stories?” 

The small child was smiling at the memory as he continued to nod his head.

“It’ll be just like that, but the nanny will be here every day.”

“Even on weekends?” 

“Nope, at the weekend you’re all mine” Louis grinned, reaching under the table to grab at one of his socked feet, giving it a gentle tickle. 

Sebastian shrieked, thrashing his arms about and nearly sending his milkshake flying in his attempt to escape.

“That sound good then, kiddo?” Louis chuckled.

He voiced his approval with a cheer before stuffing an entire chicken nugget in his mouth.

“I know you’re excited but try not to choke, that would be most unfortunate” Louis joked, smiling fondly at his son who now donned impressive chipmunk cheeks.

He wasn’t overly surprised when his advice was ignored as his son practically inhaled his food before hopping down out of sight, plastic figure of some unrecognisable children’s character clutched in his hand. 

\---

“When the night is coming down, we will find a way through the dark.”

With the last few chords of the song the small bar erupted into applause, Harry and Liam leading the charge with loud whoops and whistles from their position at the bar. 

Niall beamed from the stage, expressing a small ‘thank you’ to his audience before hurrying down and across to his friends. 

One of the good things about this venue, besides befriending the charming and witty barman that was Liam Payne, was that Niall had become a bit of a regular performer. This meant that the audiences tended to be more familiar with him and therefore a lot more supportive. Niall loved performing here and Harry loved to watch him as he knew that each time he received such a warm reception, his confidence got a little boost. 

“Mate, you were sick!” Liam complimented, slapping Niall on the back as he joined them.

“Seriously good” Harry agreed. 

Niall blushed slightly, passing his guitar over for Liam to stash behind the bar, shrugging off their kind remarks. That was one of the best things about him; he was never even remotely big-headed despite people telling him regularly just how talented he really was. 

“Here you go” Liam said sliding a beer across to their humble friend “this one’s on me.”

“Thanks, Li” Niall grinned.

“Woah, woah” Harry cried, rounding on Liam “how come he gets free drinks and I don’t?!”

“He’s the talent, you’re just the groupie” he shrugged, a wicked smirk on his face.

Niall cackled.

“I’m proud to be Niall’s groupie, there’s no-one else I’d rather groupie for” Harry retorted, throwing an arm round Niall.

“And there’s no-one else I’d rather have as my groupie” he smiled lovingly back, pulling his roommate into a one-armed hug.

“Shall I leave you guys alone or…?” Liam quipped, eyeing their bromantic embrace.

Harry chose to flick him squarely on the forehead instead of coming up with a witty response as he could already feel his fourth beer beginning to slow his brain.

Niall quickly removed himself from Harry’s personal space as he spotted a pretty brunette in a tight dress making her way over to him. 

“I just wanted to say that you were really good tonight, like really good” she spoke sweetly and a little closer to his ear than necessary. 

“Well thank you” he smirked “I’m Niall by the way, in case you missed it.”

Harry had just enough time to catch that girl’s name was Jenny before Liam gestured for him to join him a little further down the bar.

“Unbelievable” Harry sighed exasperatedly “dumped for some floozy.”

“Floozy?” Liam looked up with a raised eyebrow from where he’d been cleaning glasses. 

“I’m trying to expand my vocabulary, is that a crime?” Harry bit back.

Liam chuckled in response, shaking his head at the impossible boy. 

“When was the last time you got any action anyway?” He asked, the conversation suddenly taking a dramatic turn.

Harry choked a little on his beer.

“S’a little personal, don’t you think?!”

“Not for a while then” Liam concluded, not looking up from his work.

“How dare… I get plenty… You have no…” Harry stumbled over his words, trying to think of a sentence that would convince Liam he wasn’t in fact one hundred per cent correct. 

“I’m right though, aren’t I?” Liam said with a knowing smirk.

Harry’s scowl was all the confirmation he needed.

“You should put yourself out there more” his friend advised. 

“How do I ‘put myself out there’?!”

“I don’t know, aren’t there bars for people like you?” Liam shrugged.

“You mean gay bars?” Harry said flatly, disbelieving his friend’s lack of common sense. 

“Yeah!” He said, waving a damp cloth at him excitedly “why don’t you go to one of those?”

“On my own? That’d be a great night out.”

His sarcasm caused Liam to roll his eyes.

“No, take Niall or something.”

“I’ve tried that; he gets offended if someone hits on him and offended if they don’t.”

“Well” the barman pondered “how about dating? I’m sure I could find a guy to set you up with.”

“I don’t have time for dating” Harry scoffed.

“Aren’t you unemployed?”

There was a pause.

Harry stared at his friend, irritation starting to creep into his brain.

“Why are we having a counselling session in the middle of a bar?” 

“You just seem a bit tense, that’s all” Liam pondered. “Besides Niall’s been saying that you haven’t exactly been quiet with-“

“Yes alright” Harry hissed, rubbing his temples.

As Liam removed himself to serve a customer, Harry glanced over to check on Niall’s progress. The blonde caught his eye, a cheeky grin plastered across his face, and gave him a quick thumbs up behind the girl’s back. Harry smirked back, silently miming applause which was received with a mischievous glint of blue eyes before their contact was broken.  
Harry returned his attention to Liam who was now back cleaning glasses in front of him.

“Is it cool if I sofa surf again tonight?” He asked, nodding over to where Niall was very much engrossed with ‘Jenny’. 

“What, providing he doesn’t strike out?” Liam laughed.

“Yes please.” Harry flashed his most charming smile to seal the deal.

“Yeah, that’s fine” his friend shrugged. “My shift finishes in an hour so you’ll have to hang around ‘til then.”

“Oh no, stuck in a bar for a whole hour! Whatever shall I do?” Harry exclaimed, feigning distress.

Liam appeared to read his mind as he set out three shot glasses on the bar and filled them with Vodka.

“Liam, I think we might be soul mates.”

\---

It didn’t take Louis long to clear up after their short meal, most of the task involving putting various wrappers and containers in the bin, and soon enough he found himself thumbing through the glossy booklet from the nanny agency, glasses perched on his nose.

He felt slightly overwhelmed by the complexity of the procedure. Louis didn’t know what he had expected but certainly not a lengthy process of selecting a number of potential nanny’s before progressing to an interview stage followed by a ‘trial-period’ until finally they were convinced you were happy with your selection. This was clearly going to require a little more thought and he decided to call for backup.

He poked his head into Sebastian’s bedroom and saw the young boy sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by various toys. He looked as if he was introducing his newest addition to the rest of his collection. 

“Seb, do you wanna help Daddy with something?” He asked, trying to make his tone sound excited.

Sebastian looked round wildly, eyes wide, and nodded enthusiastically as he quickly scrambled up and rushed over to his father. 

Louis hoisted him onto his hip and carried him back to the table where he settled him on his knee.

“Daddy has to try and find a nice nanny to come and look after you so you’re going to help me choose” Louis explained, flicking through the pages. “If you tell me what you’d like them to be like then we can see if we can find one like that.”

His son stared at him a little blankly.

“Okay, okay” he sighed, trying to simplify things “let’s start with this; would you like a nanny that was a bit older like Grandma or a nanny that was younger like Daddy?”  
Sebastian’s eyebrows furrowed as he pondered the question.

“But Daddy, you’re quite old.” 

Louis’ mouth dropped open before he realised that to a three year old he would practically seem like a dinosaur.

“Okay moving on, would you like a nanny that played a lot of games with you or one that taught you things like at school?”

“Play games” Sebastian nodded confidently.

“Or what about one that did art with you, like drawing and painting?” Louis asked.

“Yeah” the small child said enthusiastically.

“Or music? What that could teach you some music or… this is completely pointless isn’t it?” Louis waffled, coming to a sudden epiphany. “You’re going to say yes to anything I say, aren’t you?”

“Yes” Sebastian replied before giggling hysterically.

“Go on then, you can go and play again” he surrendered, letting his son wriggle free from his lap.

After spending the better part of an hour getting to grips with the profiling system he decided to take a break and put Sebastian to bed, returning to the task with a fresh mind and a fresh cup of coffee. 

He spent the rest of the evening browsing through profile after profile making notes on certain criteria that he wanted or candidates that he liked the sound of. It was lengthy and tedious but then again so were most of his evenings. 

Just as he thought he was nearing the end of his struggle, having narrowed down the selection to three potential candidates, he came to another section that was considerably thinner than the rest. 

It was entitled ‘Male Nannies’. 

Truthfully he had never given much thought to male nannies, not seeing it as an overly common profession, but flicking through the profiles he quickly came to realise that it was very much fifty-fifty; they were either genuinely lovely looking gentlemen who he would be happy to leave Sebastian with or creepy weirdoes that he would want heavily checked before he let them anywhere near his son. The latter seemed to be dominating in this particular booklet.

One of the last profiles he came to, however, was one of the minorities. 

He was young, only 21, with not a lot of experience with child care- fresh out of university Louis presumed. He seemed enthusiastic, however, and claimed to have teaching qualifications. He seemed promising. Louis’ interest peaked when he scanned over the cost of hiring him full time and saw that that it was a lot lower than some of the other candidates he was considering. Not that he was one to cheap out on his child’s safety but some of the wages were insanely high and this was only a pro in the guy’s favour.  
Making an executive decision he added the name ‘Harry Styles’ to his list and, seeming satisfied with his selections, called an end to a long night.

\---


End file.
